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{{work|wppage=Glory Road}}
{{Infobox book
[[File:GloryRoad_9683.jpg|frame|]]▼
| title = Glory Road
| caption =
| author = Robert A. Heinlein
| central theme =
| elevator pitch = US Army veteran falls in love at first sight, and travels the worlds on a quest with his lady fair. Then he finds out who she is.
| genre = Fantasy
| publication date = 1963
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
{{quote|''ARE YOU A COWARD? This is not for you. We badly need a brave man. He must be 23 to 25 years old, in perfect health, at least six feet tall, weigh about 190 pounds, fluent English with some French, proficient with all weapons, some knowledge of engineering and mathematics essential, willing to travel, no family or emotional ties, indomitably courageous and handsome of face and figure. Permanent employment, very high pay, glorious adventure, great danger. You must apply in person...''}}
'''''Glory Road''''' is a [[Science Fiction]] novel written by [[Robert A. Heinlein]] and published in 1963, originally in serial form. It is a [[Reconstruction]] of the standard pulp adventure novels of the era.
[[The Hero]], Evelyn Cyril "Easy" Gordon, is a scarred veteran of an unspecified Southeast Asian conflict,<ref>Strongly implied to be the "advisors" phase of [[the Vietnam War]], but Heinlein never came out and said so.</ref> living on his pittance of a military benefit while trying to improve his lot in any honest way he can, only to be repeatedly shot down by either Murphy's Law or the unpleasant realities of the mid-20th Century. Due to an unorthodox upbringing and being an Army brat, he has a number of unusual skills for a man of his time, including swordsmanship. He is
The sorceress [[I Have Many Names|has many names]], but they all seem to mean "star", which is what Gordon calls her. And when he replies, "Oh, 'Scar' will do" when she asks what to call ''him'', she dubs him "Oscar", which grows on him. The manservant is a shifty fellow by the name of Rufo who seemingly knows every [[Combat Pragmatist|trick of dirty fighting]] ever discovered by mankind, not to mention a thousand unlikely and entertaining stories.
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* [[Blue and Orange Morality]]: Star recounts to Oscar how she was shocked to find out that sex is a salable commodity on Earth. Elsewhere in the Twenty Universes, a woman's sexuality is considered an integral part of her spiritual existence and it can not be bought and sold, only partaken of as a gift of the woman. She's also unpleasantly surprised to find out that Oscar turned down the sexual advances of their host's daughters and wife the night before. While he was perfectly willing to bed the wife, Oscar [[Squick|deflated]] at the thought of bedding the youngest daughter; she just looked too young for him and triggered his age taboo. Their host was so insulted that he turned down their gift that he expelled them from his home at first light. After the problem was explained, however, Oscar ended up with the host's wife and older daughter.
* [[Bothering by the Book]]/[[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]: Oscar remarks "Regardless of T.O., all military bureaucracies consist of a Surprise Party Department, a Practical Joke Department, and a Fairy Godmother department. The first two process most matters, as the third is very small; the Fairy Godmother Department is one elderly female GS-5 clerk usually out on sick leave."
* [[Brain Uploading]]: Of a sort -- the Egg contains the recorded memories of thousands of years of Emperors/Empresses, and part of each Emperor's job is to use the Egg to imprint himself with the memories of all his predecessors. [[Squick|''All'' their memories.]]
* [[The Call Left a Message]]: In this case, a newspaper ad.
* [[
* [[Congruent Memory]]: Rufo learned to shave by doing it on corpses, so he can only shave Oscar while he's lying down. He claims to have learned this from his time as an undertaker. Star says she can't remember him ever being an undertaker, but since both of them lie as easily as they breathe, it's hard to tell who's being honest there.
* [[Dagwood Sandwich]]: Oscar offers to create one for a girl he meets at a party on Center. Primitive Earth culture at least has this novelty to offer.
* [[Dangerously Close Shave]]: Related to [[Congruent Memory]], above, Rufo and Oscar start a semi-serious [[Running Gag]] with the [[Deadly Euphemism]], "shaving your corpse."
* [[Deconstructive Parody]]: Is super hilarious, but at the same time deconstructs the whole [[The Hero]] + [[Damsel in Distress]] + [[MacGuffin]] + [[Standard Hero Reward]] thing.
* [[Democracy Is Bad]]/[[Democracy Is Flawed]]: The
* [[Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life]]: Oscar; nothing on Earth seems to properly suit him either before his adventure, or (most especially) after.
* [[Dinosaurs Are Dragons]]: The "dragons" that the party fights on one world are tyrannosaur-like in appearance but breathe fire. Oscar proceeds to [[Lampshade Hanging|hang a lampshade]] on this trope.
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* [[Free-Love Future]]: Marriage in Star's society comes in infinite varieties and with infinite customs; the one rule she makes about it is that everyone has to respect everyone else's rules. In Center, the heart of the Empire, they work on a "toss your shoes" rule. Marriage is as simple as moving in, and if she wants you out, you'll find your shoes on the doorstep.
* [[Giant Flyer]]: The blood hawks.
* [[Good Bad Girl]]: Star.
* [[Good Scars, Evil Scars]]: Oscar is named by Star for the scar on his face, earned during a bayonet fight with an enemy soldier.
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* [[Mummies At the Dinner Table]]: Star relates a tale of a woman who had her deceased husbands stuffed and mounted and kept them in her house.
* [[Naked First Impression]]: Oscar first meets Star on Île du Levant, a Mediterranean island where casual nudity is accepted and indeed required.
* [[Named Weapons]]: Oscar's sword, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140626122717/http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AL3&name=Albion+Lady+Vivamus+Sword+ "Lady Vivamus"]. He named it from the motto etched onto it, ''"Dum vivamus, vivamus!"'' ("While we live, let us live!")
* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: The Eater of Souls, a witty, [[Faux Affably Evil]] construct set at the heart of the Mile-High Tower who waits for [[The Hero]] to come so he can [[Hannibal Lecture|dissect his character]], shortly before dissecting his body.
* [[Pocket Dimension]]: Karth-Hokesh, where the Mile-High Tower is located. Not so much a universe as simply a ''place'', as Star describes it.
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* [[Really Gets Around]]: Star, partly as a result of the [[Free-Love Future]] but also as an acknowledged relief valve for the enormous stress of running the Twenty Universes.
* [[Self-Induced Allergic Reaction]]: Oscar mentions one of his classmates who avoided the draft by having extreme allergies. No fake, he was allergic to draft boards...
* [[So What Do We Do Now?]]: What does a Hero do after beating the bad guy, saving the Twenty Universes, and marrying the Empress? Oscar finds himself asking this exact question.
* [[Standard Hero Reward]]: [[Deconstructed Trope|Deconstructed]]. Oscar's much happier out on the road slaying dragons than as the pampered, but ultimately useless consort of an Empress.
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* [[Stranger in a Familiar Land]]: When Oscar returns to Earth, he discovers that it's lost any appeal for him.
* [[The Strength of Ten Men]]: Oscar quotes, "My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure," sarcastically.
* [[Transferable Memory]]: A part of becoming the Empress/Emperor of the Twenty Universes is the imprinting of ''all'' the memories of ''all'' the previous emperors and empresses, which are stored in the device called "The Egg of the Phoenix".
* [[Values Dissonance]]: What shuts down the feast at Jocko's in Nevia, and nearly gets Oscar, Star and Rufo killed -- Oscar reacts as a mid-20th-Century American when offered a chance to impregnate any one or more of Jocko's wife and two daughters: [[Squick]]ed by the age of the younger daughter, he turns the offer down completely, inadvertently insulting Jocko's honor by accidentally implying that he and his clan are unworthy of raising the offspring of a Hero.
* [[Vertebrate with Extra Limbs]]: Horses with eight legs (which are a [[Shout-Out]] to Sleipnir, Odin's horse in [[Norse Mythology]]).
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* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]]: Oscar has a terrible fear of rats. Naturally this comes into play at the climax of the quest.
* [[Will Not Tell a Lie]]: Star. She is, however, a master of [[False Reassurance]], partial truths and leading you to believe what you want to.
▲* [[A Wizard Did It]]: Oscar reflects that the technology in use by Star's folks is so advanced that it might as well be magic. He also notes that at least one example -- the wards -- are almost within the grasp of mid-20th-century science, but require an "aha!" moment that hasn't yet occurred to anyone on Earth.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Literature of the 1960s]]
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